Disney's "Paperman" short showcases new CG / hand-drawn animation hybrid Is it really the end of the line for hand-drawn animation at Walt Disney Studios? That was the conclusion that many in Hollywood reached late last year. All they had to do was compare Winnie the Pooh 's meager...

I was sitting at my personal computer, working on a story about Pixar (I was putting together a promo piece for the Cartoon Art Museum 's annual " Spend the day at Pixar Animation Studios" benefit in December) when I learned that Steve Jobs had passed away. Which -- given that this one...

Here's kind of a depressing fact to start 2011 off with: 88% of all people will fail to keep their New Year's resolution . With 45% of those folks falling off the self-improvement wagon by the end of January. And why is that exactly? To be blunt, it's because a lot of us aren't willing...

Early this morning, Martin A. Sklar ’s friends & family gathered at Disneyland . Where this Disney Legend was then honored with his very own Window on Main Street . And it was kind of appropriate that Marty spent his last official day as a Disney employee at the very place where his career with the...

"It was 20 years ago today ..." Well, it was tomorrow actually. August 2, 1988 to be precise. That was the date when an incomplete version of " Tin Toy " first screened at SIGGRAPH and truly wowed the crowd in Atlanta. Given the overwhelmingly positive response that this John Lasseter film received ...

How many of you know the story of the blind men and the elephant ? I bring up this ancient Indian fable because ... Well ... I have to admit that I was highly amused by what happened last Wednesday. When the on-line animation community went completely bananas over those "Bolt" pre-release images . Copyright...

It's going to seem like "Old Home Week" at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater tonight. What with acclaimed filmmaker Leslie Iwerks sharing the stage with industry legend Roy E. Disney during the Q & A portion of tonight's screening of " The Pixar Story " at the American Cinematheque . You see, if it hadn...

There's this genuinely eerie passage in Karen Paik 's " To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios " ( Chronicle Books , November 2007), which talks about how a single book basically changed the course of John Lasseter 's life. In ninth grade, Lasseter was searching the art section...

First up, Danny writes in to ask: Jim, Any reason that you know of why Pixar started skimping on their DVD packages? Up to and including " The Incredibles ," no company did the medium justice better than Pixar. But the discs for " Cars " and " Rataouille " (which I have an advanced copy of) are pathetic...

If you go strictly by the numbers, there aren't really a whole lot of reasons to be happy with the way " Ratatouille " performed this past weekend. Were you to compare how this new Brad Bird film opened versus how other earlier Pixar movies did over their opening weekends ... Title of Movie Year Released...

Over the past six months, JHM has featured a number of stories that talked about the Walt Disney Company's concerns about " Ratatouille ." How the marketing department at the studio has been struggling to find just the right way to promote this new Brad Bird film. (Don't believe me? Then check out these...

Here's the official party line for the Walt Disney Company nowadays : That everyone who works in Burbank is just thrilled that John Lasseter & Ed Catmull now exert so much control over the corporation. More importantly, that all Mouse House employees have been eager to embrace Pixar 's "Quality is...

This past Tuesday afternoon, the news traveled around the Disney lot at lightning speed. PAs saw it displayed on their pagers, while executives read all about it on their Blackberrys. Sharon Morrill -- the long-time president of DisneyToon Studios -- was out. Morrill -- who (it's said) had made billions...

Monday, September 17, 1979 is a day that lives in infamy. At least for the folks at Disney Feature Animation. You see, that was the day that Don Bluth , Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy suddenly resigned from the Mouse House to form their own animation studio, Aurora. And over the four days, nine other...